Don't buy Linksys

Tricord · Post by **Tricord** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 2:09 pm

Sorry guys, I need to vent.

I'm network admin on a small (~15 employee with ~20PC's) company and I bought a Linksys wireless broadband router to share internet and dish out IP addresses via DHCP. The file server and the printers have fixed IP's.
First, I noticed when installing the router that the power plug contact was interrupted when moving the router. Bad contact, but not a problem since it's just going to sit tucked away.

Now, for some mysterious reason, the router started handing out IP addresses to the clients from another subnet. Result: nobody could print, plot or access the fileserver. To top this, I was in Austria for a week of skiing, unable to check and address the problem, and none of the employees were computer-literated enough to talk him through the procedure over phone.

So I am looking at a nice bill on my cellphone from all those international calls, the company lost quite a lot of money because of employees unable to work, 20 minutes work to sort everything out once I got back and $50 for a new router which is more reliable.

Don't buy Linksys.

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 2:48 pm

Too late.

A lot of us have bought linksys already, and are quite happy with our wired routers.

the wireless ones, im not too sure of.

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 2:50 pm

I'm admin for a very similar setup (including the fixed addr for server/printers), except we use wires -- no problems whatsoever w/ the LinkSys BEFSR41 V.2 over the last 3 years.. Maybe you just got a bad unit ?

JMEaT · Post by **JMEaT** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 4:01 pm

Hmm, sorry you have problems with Linksys, but they make some of the best network equipment for the buck.

When I have an old switch go bad in my stores I always replace them with Linksys. I use them in my house as well. I have a PCI NIC, PC Card NIC, router and switch made by them and they all work flawlessly.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 7:54 pm

I have a Netgear wireless router and so far no problem...but then just my daughters and my computor are on it.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 8:02 pm

FYI, Linksys = Cisco.

Linksys wired routers are amazing. I have yet to see a Linksys wireless router work.

That said, I use a Linux machine as my router, and my Linksys router as a regular hub. Much more secure.

CritterB · Post by **CritterB** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 9:55 pm

I've got a wireless linksys router that works great. So does my brother, my mom, and my dad and none of them have had any problems. I tried a netgear and a dlink in the past and had all kinds of problems with drops and flaky connections and port issues. I have had a linksys wired or wireless router for like 4 or 5 years with no problems yet. I am only talking about networks with like 5 total comps on each though. Maybe you were unlucky and got a bad one.

Jeff250 · Post by **Jeff250** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 9:58 pm

Upgrading the firmware is always a good idea-- only if you're not dumb, that is.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 8:44 am

Actually I must state that Linksys routers are only good for smaller home networks. They run out of memory with anything more than about ten computers. Found that out the hard way at work.

Just another reason not to use consumer devices for large-scale business purposes.

Teddy · Post by **Teddy** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 2:32 pm

I have the BEFSR41 and it works ok for anything except PNP programs. It seems unless i reset the router, I cant get any programs to work properly. A good example of this is a simple file tranfer with msn messenger....

WarAdvocat · Post by **WarAdvocat** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 2:44 pm

UPNP works fine for me on my BEFSR41 w/ updated firmware. Check that out teddy...

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 3:20 pm

I think Teddy means P2P, not PNP.

If that's the case, temporarily add your computer to the DMZ. It will work fine. Then remove the DMZ entry when you're done.

Get to your router's configuration panel (http://admin:admin@192.168.1.1 by default), click Advanced, click DMZ Host, and enter the last part of the IP of the computer you want to send/receive the file, then hit apply. Change it to 0 and hit apply to revert.

Teddy · Post by **Teddy** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 3:31 pm

no, i mean UPNP! And even the dmz function doesn't work properly...i can open ports on my computer, and according to sites like www.grc.com, all the ports are open, but the program i'm trying to use will not get out of the firewall!!!! Linksys has stated that this is a known problem(even tho its been over a year, they are supposedly working on it) and the latest firmware wont work on my version of the router(v1.0).... also another known problem. the newest i can use is verson 1.44.2z, i think that is why they still keep that firmware up on the download page. About 2 months ago, i was talking to one of thier live teck support guys and he told me that the past 6 people before me had the exact same problems.... so i know it aint just me!!!

Warlock · Post by **Warlock** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 1:52 pm

wireless is ★■◆● to start with

1. 11mbps and 58mbps ok thats 1.3MBytes and 7.23MBytes way to slow for me, thats y i have a 1000mbps network so fast and stable all though i had to rerun all my network drops with Cat6 it was worth it.

2. no matter how much scurity u put on there some one will still get in if they really wanted to.

3. interfearance from hell, alot of people have phones that are in the 2.5 and 5ghz range

4. walk with me down my block with my frends pocket pc and his wireless adapter, i hope on to so maney networks its sad

edit WTF it replace $#!T with poopie 0_o

JMEaT · Post by **JMEaT** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 4:36 pm

While the speed is slow on wireless, that isn't its main selling point. It is the convenience of not running any wires and the "go anywhere" access to the net.

Appealing it is, not for me. I don't want my personal network flying through the air.

ccb056 · Post by **ccb056** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 4:52 pm

Im running two linksys's right now, one is a vpn/spi router, which im running as the router, the other is the befr41 thngy which im using as a switch, haven't really had any problems with them

since they were bought by cisco, I think theyve improved

Teddy · Post by **Teddy** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 9:32 pm

linksys's wireless router really has a bad problem with wireless phones.... my sister has one and me newphews get dropped everytime the phone rings!!! I think i'll stick to the higher speed wired setup....

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 1:30 am

well, the wireless getups trampling on cordless phones was pretty well intentional. they wanted to get the product out the door so fast they figured no one would care. heheh

Warlock · Post by **Warlock** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 8:50 am

yeah but it pisses me off when i need to get some stworking stuff i go to best nuts (best buy) they have like 1 5port and a 8 port router the rest of the crap is wireless, no wire nics eather.

they have the new prink server from linksys that both wireless and wired and i need to replace my old one due to lightning but onley prob is there is no way to disable the wireless part and that really pisses me off

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 12:27 pm

Warlock wrote:they have the new prink server from linksys that both wireless and wired and i need to replace my old one due to lightning but onley prob is there is no way to disable the wireless part and that really pisses me off

Update the firmware?

That sucker should have support for WPA though. Be sure to turn off broadcast ID and lock it down to the mac addresses of each nic in the house.

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 11:15 am

both my computers have LinkSys devices and a linksys 4 port DSL/Cable router "BEFSR41"

i didnt like the realtek onboard LAN on my HP's mobo, so i disabled it, and installed a 10/100 Fast Ethernet NIC in a PCI slot.

my server didnt have a onboard NIC and the one that was in it when i accquired it was only a 10 MBit Half Duplex old POFS, so i got a identical NIC and put that in.

neither of the 3 components have given me a single problem yet

Tricord · Post by **Tricord** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 11:24 am

AceCombat wrote:i didnt like the realtek onboard LAN on my HP's mobo, so i disabled it, and installed a 10/100 Fast Ethernet NIC in a PCI slot.

Why would one do that? Sounds dumb.

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 11:33 am

it gave me some speed inconsitantcies in my LAN, plus i have 2 (3 total with one taken by a FireWire card) open PCI Ports. and i dont plan on adding anything more to this system, unless its a new CD/dvd drive, DVD-R DVD-RW or CD-RW, CPU and RAM,

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 3:35 pm

Made sense to me, Tri. Yick @ Realtek NICs.

Capm · Post by **Capm** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 8:13 pm

I don't like wireless routers.. not only do you have limited bandwidth... if you have a reflection, it can cut your bandwidth even more... The best thing to remember on wireless networks is that your strongest signal may not always be your best signal.

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 9:29 pm

DCrazy wrote:Made sense to me, Tri. Yick @ Realtek NICs.

same thing i said aswell

Sickone · Post by **Sickone** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 9:35 pm

wireless is great for what it is meant for.

- NOT FOR FIXED STATIONS: If you have desktops, printers etc.. Hardwire the biacths

- if you have a laptop or two and like to wonder the office or home... great - it rocks...